Wednesday Apple Rumors: Almost 15M iPads Shipped Last Quarter

by Christopher Freeburn | October 23, 2013 11:16 am

[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Higher: At a special media event on Tuesday, Apple (AAPL[3]) gave a hint about the company’s iPad Sales during the September quarter[4], AppleInsider noted. While unveiling the fifth-generation iPad — now known as the iPad Air — Tim Cook told attendees that the company had sold its 170 millionth iPad in October. Some Wall Street analysts used that figure to estimate Apple’s iPad shipments at around 14.9 million units during the last quarter. That would be up from 14 million iPads sold during the same time last year. Other analysts made different calculations, putting the number of iPads sold last quarter closer to 14 million. Apple will release quarterly results on Oct. 28.

Free: Mac owners received an unexpected perk[5] at yesterday’s special media event, CNET notes. In addition to unveiling its new iPad Air and a Retina iPad Mini — which will not hit stores until late November, likely due to long-rumored production constraints — the iPhone-maker also launched its latest desktop operating system, OS X Mavericks. The update OS was widely anticipated to be shown off at the event. What wasn’t expected was its price tag: $0. Apple announced that Mavericks is be a free download for Mac users through its Mac App store. Previous OS updates had been priced at $20. In addition to Mavericks, Apple said that its refreshed iLife and iWork software suites — which have undergone a redesign — would also be free with purchases of new Apple devices. Apple’s move toward free software may be due to increased competition with apps from Google (GOOG[6]), which are usually offered without charge. During the event, Apple executives touted their free productivity software, noting that Microsoft’s (MSFT[7]) popular Office Suite currently costs users a $99 annual fee.

Update: Owners of Apple’s mobile devices have something new to install[8], BGR notes. Shortly after yesterday’s iPad media event concluded, Apple released a software update for iOS 7. The release had been presaged by the seeding of the update — iOS 7.0.3 — to developers and partners earlier this month. The latest updated allows users to stop the zooming effect that had reportedly caused motion sickness in some users and integrates iCloud keychain support. The update is also designed to address some reported glitches with iOS 7. Apple devices can download the update over-the-air or through iTunes.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[9] stories.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/10/wednesday-apple-rumors-almost-15m-ipads-shipped-last-quarter/

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